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The Royal College of Physicians and other health organisations have welcomed news that the government will be funding an extra 350 medical school places, which are targeted to address disparities in the distribution of places and support under-doctored areas.
It is part of the Long Term Workforce Plan to double medical school places by 2031 as well as recruiting and retaining hundreds of thousands more staff over the next 15 years.
The College, however, said that medical students are only part of the answer and added that when they graduate, these students will need jobs. They will need teachers and supervisors and protected time to train.
Dr Sarah Clarke, RCP president said: “Almost a year after the publication of the Long Term Workforce Plan, we still don’t have the detail we need on how and where postgraduate training places will be increased, where the patient demand is, and how the NHS will train and supervise these new doctors.
“NHS England must engage more effectively with clinicians and royal colleges on how they will deliver the Long Term Workforce Plan. They should set out how and where they will expand postgraduate training places, and how and when they will improve the granularity of specialty workforce data to inform future staffing projections. NHSE must identify the barriers to publishing this granular data, and develop and fund a dedicated plan for specialty training based on population need.”
New medical school places puts government on track to exceed plans
The 350 places will be for the academic year 2025 to 2026. This includes substantial increases to medical schools at universities in Sunderland, Leeds, East Anglia, Anglia Ruskin, Plymouth and Surrey. The University of Surrey is also receiving government-funded places for the first time.
The government says that the combination of the additional medical places this year and next, along with medical apprenticeship places, puts us on track to exceed current plans.
NHS Employers said the announcement of a further phase of additional medical school places is a significant step forward and NHS leaders will look forward to similar commitments for other professions and educational routes in the coming months.
Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers said: “At the same time the announcement of 600 extra medical school places in recent years is an important corrective to the apparent misunderstanding of medical trade unions when it comes to the far more modest expansion in smaller professions such as the physicians associate role.
“The acknowledgment in the plan of the need to counteract the historical bias in educational capacity in London was a long-standing ask of NHS employers. It is very positive therefore to see the considered and impactful approach being taken by NHS England and the Office for Students to ensure that most of these new places are in areas of the country that have been underserved for generations.”
